Lapse: Time
by RowanSkie
Summary: Kumiyo Mirai wakes up. Post-Lapse interpretation by yours truly.


Kumiyo Mirai woke up.

The brilliant researcher realized where she was and her eyes widened at the conflicting sets of memories and wondered where it came from. From one side, she had sent her greatest creation to retrieve a device and six years after its retrieval, releasing an imprisoned being in the process, yet there is another set of memory where she helped an android similar to her rumored creation help discover his partner and sent it to Time…

… then she remembered about President Hall and rushed out of bed.

In her hurry, she didn't see someone else was under the covers of her bed and she froze in place, looking over to the bed. The person she was sleeping with softly sat up, and the covers revealed the President.

She then remembered the celebration and felt her cheeks turn hot as she remembered the hectic night that happened. She saw the same reaction the President had and softly stood up.

"We shouldn't tell anyone about this, right?" the President asked.

Kumiyo nodded. "Yes, Mr. President. I didn't know you were friends with Time itself, and I'll keep that silent as well."

He nodded, before sighing as he fixed his tie. "It's been a few years since we started, and things have been hectic. We replaced our gardener, the wars are over, democracy is finally taking place tomorrow with a country-wide election…"

"I'm sure everything will be alright, Mr. President." She smiled as she wore her favorite black shirt. "Can I call you Jackson?"

"If you let me call you Kumiyo," the President offered back.

She nodded. "Yes, sir. Only in private, of course."

"Of course. I am still President, even though rumors have helped calm the crowd down a few times…" Jackson mumbled.

Kumiyo smiled before something clicked. "Jackson, sir, how many times did you time travel?"

"I stopped counting, why?" Jackson asked as he stared at a mirror and combed his hair. "It happens when I die, and if it wasn't illness it's the people."

"I read the research notes you gave me and it says something about a safety mechanism, but I didn't understand that yet. You said that your time travel activates when you die?" Kumiyo clarified.

"It causes gravitational anomalies, and yes. Usually back at the start of the year." Jackson sighed. "Let's just go to our duties and have a good day. I'll tell you when something goes wrong."

"I guess I'll continue working on the tweaks so when I finally finish the two time machines it doesn't go as sour as before, then." Kumiyo took her lab coat from the clothes rack. "See you at work, Mr. President."

* * *

Kumiyo Mirai woke up.

She had slept half-way through refining the specific frequencies needed to properly send an object back in time. She knew that it was still impossible to send a human back through time, save for androids, but it was enough that she can send messages through time to check up on the President.

Speaking of which, she sent one message about the First Lady again, seeing if it works. After a few minutes of silence, she softly sighed in relief. She knew that this job was boring sometimes under breaktimes. Now that things are back on track, she can continue building the time machine. She was only doing it to fix the President's memory, after all.

Taking the research notes the Director of Intelligence had retrieved from the secret room, she went and read them with caution. She took note of the similarities of the time range and found a specific year. 2152.

She stared at the calendar and frowned, seeing as it was merely the year 2150. But then, the notes did suggest that there was no global war that had happened, so she merely assumed this was from a time where she didn't head to the president.

Looking at the notes made her remember why she was continuing this project. She wanted to fix the President's memory module, and to reverse engineer his means to continue on this project, as much to the General's dismay.

She is relieved that she was getting government funds for this high-priority project. That she was always grateful.

* * *

Kumiyo Mirai woke up.

She turned to her left to turn on her lamp and turned on her right to smile at the person who stared back with a smile as well.

She supposed that she is now the new First Lady if this keeps up.

"Good morning, Mr. President," she greeted as she slowly pushed herself off the bed. "Time for work, I suppose."

He softly nodded before sitting up and sighed. Kumiyo saw his face and went over to hug him. "How bad was it?"

Jackson softly shook his head. "In a few days, I took one decision too far and caused us to get invaded."

"But, you said that everything was fine now," Kumiyo retorted.

"Well, can't I make a joke once in a while then? I usually wake up in my Presidential room when I… return from death," Jackson replied with a straight face.

Kumiyo gave him a look.

"Don't worry, Kumiyo. Besides, in a few days, the election starts. I expect you to vote for the new guy. And if he doesn't fund you anymore, I'll go ask K for a group that would approve of your projects." Jackson kissed her cheek. "Lighten up."

Kumiyo rolled her eyes before going over to hug him. "Good morning, Jackson."

"Morning, Kumiyo."

* * *

"Mr. President, there are rumors that you are now dating the famous researcher Kumiyo. Is that true?" Kumiyo heard a reporter ask Jackson over a one-to-one interview hosted on the internet.

"I suppose I can neither deny or approve that rumor. But I will give a hint that we're happy," Jackson replied. "We'll see the time when we're officially together."

The reporter chuckled. "We'll see. Now, what exactly happened to the previous First Lady? She suddenly vanished, do you know what happened?"

"Well, I do admit I miss her, but when we found out that she was responsible for many crimes, we confronted her. Before we can get ahold of her and make her give a confession though, she took her own life. The whole world was grateful since she was also responsible for the kidnapping of President Nakato, and there are… rumors that she was responsible for my gardener to attempt to assassinate me." He paused. "Starting with cake. My favorite dessert."

The reporter seems stunned before smiling. "Glad to know about that. So—"

Kumiyo closed the browser window and softly sighed. She needs to finish her project.

* * *

A year later, Android-Alpha slowly woke up.

"Hey… hey, you're– you're alive. thank goodness," the female in front of her told him. "Slowly now, you can't move too much right now. Can you understand me? Nod if you do."

Alpha softly nodded its head. The female smiled.

"You're going to do great things. Once my employers know about this, you'll know what to do, okay?" she asked with a smile.

Alpha nodded again and started to look around where it was as the female walked out of the room. It was in a room with multiple strange objects. Moving its hand a bit, it stretched out to pick up something.

* * *

"Mr. President, I believe that I can finally fix your damaged memory module, and now that AA is—" Kumiyo paused after seeing his hand being raised. "Something wrong?"

"AA sounds weird, let's call it Adam," Jackson replied as they headed to the laboratory, lowering his hand. "Did you tie him down?"

"No, sir. Why?" Kumiyo's eyes widened as she heard her tools clatter to the floor. "No!"

She burst through the doors, only to find the android picking up the fallen tray and its contents. She saw how its face was pale white, and looked back at Kumiyo. "Hi…" it greeted.

"I told you to slow down for a while," She said in relief. "You've just woke up, you know…"

* * *

Adam woke up and looked to his right as he sat up.

Jackson looked back.

"You're… me," Adam slowly spoke. "A… different me."

Jackson nodded, sitting down and sighing. "Yes. I came here to say that… you are beautiful."

Adam looked at him and tilted his head before looking at his wrists and softly massaged them as he felt that something was missing. "How are you… here?"

Jackson shook his head. "Long story. You were built with another android, and you are… a time machine. Like me."

"Another… where are they then?" He looked around.

"Disabled for now. They are simply a chassis yet." He sighed. "I assume you have experienced time travel?"

"Is that… what happened when I… I first woke up? I… I don't…" Noticing his labored breathing, Jackson stood up and softly touched his forehead.

"Breathe, now. You're not ready yet." Jackson closed his eyes and focused on something he and Kumiyo had realized he can do after an experiment with a device called an Oracle.

After a few minutes, Adam's eyes opened wide and he looked at his hand after Jackson raised it and he closed it for a while and put it in his pockets.

"What did you… I feel better," Adam looked at him.

"It's… a software update, per se. We are both alpha models of a humanoid time machine, and our… your partner is an omega model," Jackson explained.

"'Our'? What happened to your partner?" Adam asked.

Jackson just looked away.

They were silent for a few moments until Adam watched Jackson leave after being called.

* * *

Former President Jackson Hall woke up.

Everything was frozen in place as if something had gone wrong, and time had stopped itself.

He stood up and saw Time himself standing in front of him.

"Hello, little Traveler," Time greeted. "It's time to go."

Jackson's eyes widened. "But Kumiyo and Adam… they need my help."

Time gazed to his eyes. "No, they don't. In fact, I believe you have done well in the world. You have solved the problem yourself, and brought me the true menace the humans made since their attempt to imprison me in their Pyramid." Jackson's eyes grew as wide as saucers. "You were planning to send him there, weren't you? Foolish traveler! You are dooming your world to another loop!"

"I… I am?" Jackson softly stood up. "I don't even remember at all…"

Time sighed. "Since you have done me two favors, I will return one today. I will not take you, but I will take your ability to time travel. This is your final life. Do not waste it." He disappeared.

The clocks started ticking, and he saw himself sitting up on the bed with Kumiyo, who was staring at him with confusion.

Jackson felt that everything had become different, and softly laid back in bed. He never felt more alive and closed his eyes again with a smile.

* * *

Kumiyo Mirai woke up.

Seeing the date as February 28, 2158, the day that Time said she would use the device to bring herself to the past to help Adam, who was currently in disguise as the Pharaoh Ramesses II, to prevent Eve, who was currently in disguise as the Queen Nefertari, in retrieving the Device, therefore sealing the loop and the future.

With a heavy sigh, she stood up and wore her blackened coat and took an old tribal mask Jackson had given her a few years before and wore it on her face, before picking up her rifle and stepped out of her room towards the darkened basement of what was previously the president's house, where it now served as a base for a resistance ever since he had died and they destroyed Adam and Eve along with the remains of her research. Clutching the last piece of equipment she had taken for safekeeping, a strange electronic device, she raised up her rifle and lead the charge towards the current dictator's research facility.

With extreme losses, she approached the buffer room which kept the ancient hourglass and entered it. With a flash of light, she was gone, like Jackson and Adam before her.

The End…?


End file.
